Noted Youngstown Rail Preservationist Passes Away

[Rick Rowlands]

Jim Marter, Founder and President of the Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association in Youngstown, passed away Friday afternoon after a long bout with cancer. Jim had been active in railroad preservation in the Mahoning Valley for over 40 years, and most of the preserved rail equipment in the area came about due to Jim's influence.

Jim's early involvement in rail preservation was with the Penn Ohio Railfans, who successfully saved Youngstown Sheet & Tube 0-6-0 301 and two fireless locomotives from a power plant in Columbus, OH in the late 1960s. Later after the disollution of the Penn Ohio group Jim founded the Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association in 1988. This group saved two bottle type hot metal cars and a slag ladle car from the YS&T Campbell Works. That initial donation led to the acquisition of the single largest collection of steel industry rail equipment in the US. Over the years additional cars and locomotives have been preserved under Jim's direction. Two years ago the MVRHA acquired land in Youngstown and construction had begun on the Steel Valley Railroad Museum, fulfilling one of Jim's lifelong goals.

We will all miss Jim and his love of railroading and industrial history in the Mahoning Valley.